


Breaking the Time Loop

by EveryAlternateEnding



Series: The "Breaking the Time Loop" canon [1]
Category: Bendy and the Ink Machine
Genre: Alternate Ending, BATIM, Bendy (Bendy and the Ink Machine) Backstory, Gen, Henry Stein Saves Everyone, Parent Henry Stein
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-07-11
Updated: 2019-08-02
Packaged: 2020-06-26 07:16:43
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 12
Words: 19,916
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19763233
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/EveryAlternateEnding/pseuds/EveryAlternateEnding
Summary: Spending years trapped in the inky hell that was once your workplace will do things to you. It'll do worse things if you don't have hope. Henry knows that, so he's always kept hope, even after hundreds of time loops have allowed him to master his seemingly inescapable domain.At last, he has concluded that the working with the vicious ink demon is the only way to not only escape, but help the others to as well. He's writing this happy ending, no matter what it takes.





	1. Henry? This is Henry.

_Henry Stein stepped into Joey Drew Studios, apprehensive as to what he might find. Returning to the studio had seemed like such a small favor to make his ex-business partner and old friend happy. Joey Drew had seemed so remorseful, and so much calmer and kinder than he had been back then. Still, as soon as Henry was staring down the studio's halls, lifeless and decaying but otherwise unchanged, he was reminded of the time he'd spent working in them. In those years, Joey Drew had shown an ugly, selfish, twisted side of himself to Henry. One that Henry had all but forgotten about. Who knew what he'd wanted from having Henry return?_

_With a start, Henry realized that he was holding two objects in his hand, neither of which he recalled bringing in: a strange, hand-mirror shaped instrument, and a book with the words, **READ IMMEDIATELY** written large in ink over the entire expanse of the cover. Henry obeyed the text._

Henry? This is Henry. This'll come as a surprise, but you're stuck in a time loop, buddy. You seem to lose your memory every few loops. After a few hundred loops, though, I figured that out and started this journal. This way, you can learn from my mistakes and hopefully have a better chance of getting out of here.

I don't know why I'm here. That makes it pretty difficult to guess what needs to be done to get out. My best guess is that Joey Drew put me in this time loop so that I could fix his mess. Keep your eyes out for any indication that this is not the case, but for now, focus on trying to save as many people as possible.

Follow these rules:

1\. Write down anything significant you learn. If you end up in Joey Drew's apartment, write everything you need to down, because it'll be your last chance to do so before a new loop begins.

2\. Don't be afraid to die. This time loop effectively makes you immortal. Take risks to experiment.

3\. Protect this book at all costs. When Joey Drew sends you back into the studio at the end of a loop, transfer it and the seeing tool to your right hand to ensure it will be preserved.

The next page contains a table of contents. This page contains a list of the creatures you'll encounter. Please read it.

Ink creatures in general

Each ink creature was either made with a soul, or took on an imprint. The ones with souls hold the memories of the people they once were. I'll start with the ones with souls.

Sammy Lawrence

Yeah, that Sammy Lawrence. Sorry, bud, but you had to learn sometime that Joey created a real tragedy. Sammy isn't your chipper, if easily annoyed old friend anymore. He's an ink-covered loon who worships Bendy (who I'll get to later) to the point where he's willing to use you as a human sacrifice. He mostly lurks in the first basement floor and second to lowest floor of the studio. However, since he worships the ink demon, he can be anywhere instead of hiding away from him as most ink creatures do. Bendy is still malicious to him occasionally, however. He's almost invariably malicious at first, but there are ways of saving him. See pages 34, 52, and 57 for how to befriend him. He's a powerful ally as he runs a cult of lost ones and searchers.  
Times befriended: 63/584 (since I started counting)  
Times killed: 311/584

Susie Campbell/Alice Angel (scarred)

Susie Campbell's soul was transferred into an Alice Angel clone. Be extremely careful around her, as she is capricious and has no qualms with murder. She is mostly found on the ninth floor, where she has a fairly significant portion of the studio sealed up to protect herself from the ink demon. She has access to a lot of machinery in there, and can control the elevator to some extent. Don't fall into her web-she has arguably adapted to surviving and protecting herself here better than anyone. She can also be found on level S. Do not use the elevator unless she either hasn't met you, or is dead. Be especially wary of her if you're traveling with a Boris. She kills them to use their organs. For how to befriend her, go to page 78. For ways to kill her, go to pages 7, 12, and 21.

Times befriended: 3/584

Times killed: 105/584

The Projectionist

A mechanical creature containing the soul of Norman Polk. He shows no signs of sapience. I never liked the guy, but he didn't deserve this. He likes dark areas, but he can be found anywhere because he doesn't have the sense to beware the ink demon. You'll know him when you see him, and when you do, run. There are ways to kill him, though: see page 54.

Times befriended: /584

Times killed: 9/584

Bertrum Piedmont

Apparently, after I left the company, Joey tried to make a Bendy-themed amusement park which never got off the ground, and enlisted in this guy's help. They were always at each other's throats, and after they were done doing business together, Joey put his soul in an amusement park ride resting in a storage room for all the other unused Bendyland equipment. You'll know it when you see it. Unfortunately, he always mistakes me for Joey Drew, and that makes him almost impossible to befriend: he thinks it's just Joey being a manipulative liar. You must debilitate him before even attempting to befriend him-there is one very specific way to do so. For how to kill him, see page 4. For how to debilitate and befriend, see page 49.

Times befriended: 69/584

Times killed: 415/584

Lacie Benton and Grant Cohen

By using the seeing tool, I have detected their names on coffins. These same coffins hold the corpses of the others that were killed. It doesn't take a genius to connect the dots. At least one of them is a Lost One, it would seem, as at least one Lost One can talk and remembers its name. Lacie worked for Bertrum. She was probably killed because she was suspicious of Bertrum's whereabouts, but that's speculation. Grant Cohen was likely killed so that Joey could keep the company's financial matters secret.

Alright, now onto the soulless creatures. You probably can't save these, but they can still seriously help or hinder your quest.

Butcher Gang Members

Kill on sight. They have no signs of sapience and are invariably malicious. There are many copies of them.

Boris (perfect)

Almost invariably benevolent. The time spent with him (generally in his safehouse on the second basement floor) is like time spent with family. Down here, that kind of moral support is scarce and invaluable. However, he can be a serious liability if you run into the scarred Alice Angel. If that happens, keep him away from her at all costs. If she does get him, well, try to remember that he doesn't really have a soul. Just an imprint, seemingly of Wally Franks (laid-back, goofy, friendly, weak-willed, etc.) Though, that doesn't seem to keep him from feeling a fondness for me, or from feeling pain. I'm sorry Henry, but you're often gonna have to kill your dog. Alice hulks him up and turns him against you. For how to kill, see page 4.

Times befriended: 437/584

Times killed: 239/584

Alice Angel (unscarred)

She lives on the second-to-lowest level of the studio with a Boris clone she calls "Tom." She's generally benevolent. I suggest you recruit her early, as her combat skills can really come in handy, and, as I've mentioned, good company is scarce. When you meet her, show her your seeing tool. She has a tendency of thinking of you as some sort of savior, but she sees the seeing tool as some kind of proof of that. Her imprint could honestly be of anyone, but she's calmer than I ever knew Susie to be and has a rather feminine personality, so I'm going to guess it's Allison Pendle, who was hired to replace Susie as Alice's voice actress. For how to kill her, go to page 63.

Times befriended: 289/584

Times killed: 38/584

"Tom" Boris

Tom is a very distrustful, hardened Boris clone. He is often the main obstacle to befriending Alice. Sometimes, he can even convince her to imprison you. He is very useful in combat and situations involving strength, however. Don't try to befriend him: befriend Alice, and she'll convince him. And whatever you do, don't harm her, or look like you might harm her, in front of him. By his personality, he seems to have the imprint of Thomas Connor. 

Times befriended: 260/584

Times killed: 38/584

Lost Ones and Searchers

Can't lie, don't know what these are. Some are malicious, some aren't. At least one can speak, most can't. By the same token, only a couple seem to have their own personality. I don't know if they have souls or not. I just know that when I am engulfed in the ink, I can hear their thoughts. It's like they're simultaneously one voice, and many. Their methods of combat often make them seem like a hive mind.

Bendy

Almost everyone in the studio fears Bendy. He's very powerful: he can teleport using posters, can only be killed or hurt by seeing the end tape of his cartoon (you read that right. See page 3.), and can send any creature back into the inky abyss with a single touch. 

Because almost every interaction I have with him includes running away, I have not been able to get a good sense of his personality. However, I've noticed a pattern: he ceases to attack anything after he has killed a creature with a soul. He doesn't go after others without a soul, though he doesn't mind coming close enough to them to melt them into the tendrils of ink that follow him everywhere. I think he wants a soul. Maybe that's why he's after me.

I have not yet made allies with the ink demon. He doesn't seem to take sacrifices of a souled creature- in fact, he reacts with disgust and outrage, injuring (often mortally injuring) the sacrificer before coming after the sacrifice. The only exception I've found is if the person was defending themselves.

This shows me that Bendy has standards for other people but not himself. He uses everyone he can use, and is willing to stomp on and destroy anyone he can't. There's no question in my mind who his imprint is: Joey Drew. Nonetheless, his demonic powers lead me to believe that he might know something about how to save these souls.

_Henry stared at the page a long time after he'd finished reading, as though that would change its words. Deep down, though, he knew that three pages of his own handwriting hadn't spontaneously appeared, and he definitely didn't remember writing them. He flipped through it to find that there indeed were over seventy pages to it, all in his own writing. His stomach sank as he realized that this was entirely real. "Oh, Joey, what have you been doing?" he whispered to himself._


	2. Taming the Ink Demon

Henry knew the house's three rules: Boris was not going to venture out of his safe house without Henry, he wasn't letting Henry endanger himself alone, and neither of them were leaving on an empty stomach. So, as with the last two loops he could remember and presumably hundreds before it, Henry was busy heating up some bacon soup for the two of them. Everything thus far had gone his way. He'd been able to step around the pentagram on the first basement floor, saving him a blackout and some serious bodily changes that he definitely didn't want as a part of his final loop. He'd not been able to avoid Sammy, but it's not like Sammy's plan to sacrifice him ever worked anyhow. Most importantly, he'd managed the Searchers without sustaining any injury. He'd want to be in fine fettle for the next part of his plan. On top of it all, he'd even kept an ax.

After a pleasant meal, the two set out. Henry had picked up a messenger's bag from the safe house, along with a flashlight and some rope. It was good to not have to hold his journal and seeing tool for once. The duo passed through a series of increasingly ink-flooded hallways, the last one being so dark that Henry needed to fish out his flashlight and keep poor, nyctophobic Boris close. Finally, they arrived at a closed mechanical door.

Henry grabbed Boris' hand with both of his. "Alright, Boris," he said, "This is going to get intense. When I meet back up with you after this vent, I'm going to need you to be brave. Alright? I promise that there's a method to my madness."

Boris simply nodded. He trusted Henry. Henry took his hands away, leaving Boris with the flashlight he'd been holding. As he had in hundreds of time loops before, Boris removed the lid of a vent and crawled through. A few moments later, the door cranked open. Henry made his way through the Heavenly Toys factory quickly enough, and came to the room he'd dreaded coming to.

Its insides looked innocent enough: a room with a few recording booths, some ink on the floor, and posters, cutouts, and a shelf full of plushes of Alice Angel. It seemed like a totally typical room in the studio, but Henry knew better. He took out his rope and flashlight and entered.

The room went pitch black except for a few small television screens showing Alice Angel's face and playing her dainty theme song. It was sung in such a faint voice that Henry could barely make out the words, aside from, of course, "I'm Alice Angel!" After much of the tune had played, the lights from a recording booth flicked back on, and an enraged female voice screamed, "I'm Alice Angel!" She was, indeed. Or at least, she was Susie's soul placed in a scarred Alice Angel, who was now pounding her fists against the glass of the recording booth.

Henry clicked on his flashlight. In an instant, the lights flicked back off and the sound of breaking glass pierced the air. Susie leaped through the broken window, but Henry caught her. They came tumbling to the ground in a heap as the lights turned on once more. Susie punched Henry in the eye and attempted to hit him again, but Henry grabbed her wrist. Far stronger and heavier than the ink woman, Henry wrestled her down with relative ease, put a knee on her back, and began tying up her hands. "Sorry Susie," Henry muttered, though it was drowned out by her yells of protest. He tried to remember all the Boris clones she'd killed, as though that would make the task any easier on his conscience. He tied her calves together as well, so she wouldn't kick. Then, he put a hand over her mouth. "Susie," He began. She attempted to say "I'm Alice Angel!" but it was muffled. "I'm sorry," Henry continued, "This is for a good reason. I'm going to try to save you. Now, I'm going to remove my hand from your mouth, and you're going to tell me the corner of this room in which the ink demon is least likely to see you, alright?"

None of the woman's indignation had left her eyes, but Henry couldn't wait. Time was limited before the ink demon saw easy prey. "A dark corner," she answered, "with no cutouts for him to see through."

Henry nodded, and carried her to the darkest corner he could find. For once, she was silent, as though she'd accepted her circumstance. "Stay safe," Henry said.

With the possible intermeddler taken care of, Henry dashed back down to Heavenly Toys. Along the way, a trio of searchers attempted to close in on him from all sides. He swung his ax in a full circle, killing all three. Not bad for an old man, Henry thought. Maybe those time loops didn't interfere with muscle memory.

Brandishing his ax, Henry set his sights on every one of the many Bendy cutouts in the room, tearing them apart in hopes that the ink demon would take notice. He worked from the nearest to the stairwell to the farthest, as he'd want as much time as possible to talk down the demon. Immediately after the last cutout was broken, Henry could see tendrils of ink flowing across the ceiling. The sound of a heartbeat emanated from the walls. It was as though the entire studio was an organ, pumping the lifeblood of the demon who was now approaching. Henry dropped his ax and put his hands out to show he wasn't hostile, as he had planned to do. He could see the loathsome creature now, dragging its ink-soaked skeleton of a body forwards in a relentless limp.

"Bendy, wait!" Henry shouted. "I'm sorry for leaving. If I'd known that Joey could have done all this, I never would have left. I know what's happened to you, and it's awful. But listen, I've been through this song and dance a thousand times. I've had to kill you every single time. _I don't want that _." Bendy stopped when he heard that, which was a good thing- Henry had caught his attention not a moment too soon, as the demon was now mere feet away from him. "If you help me, I think I can get us out of here." The twisted toon cocked his head as though in curiosity. Then, he angrily struck out his arm. Henry flinched, as his hand had ended up only a few inches to the right of his face. On closer inspection, though, the ink demon was not trying to hit him- though he still seemed tense and angry, his hand was open, and he was holding it still. That's when Henry noticed the words forming on the wall behind him, written large in black ink.__

__**Why would you want my help? Why wouldn't you want to kill me?** _ _

__"You're a demon. I know that there's a lot you can do. I was hoping that you could use your powers to help me save these people."_ _

__The ink demon paused a moment to think that over, then wrote on the walls again. **I can help, but only so much. It is true that I can raise the dead if I have a soul and physical remains. The results won't be pretty, however. It will take an angel to save their souls from what this place has morphed them into.**_ _

__"You mean, without an angel's help, they'll all come out just as they are now?" Henry had never considered that aspect of saving the souls, but the thought of how Sammy, Susie, and especially Norman might act in the real world-well, it wouldn't do! "I know where we can find us an angel."_ _

__Bendy wasn't done. **One last thing. Can you get me a soul in exchange for my service?**_ _

__Henry paused, probably for longer than he should have. On one hand, he needed the demon's service, and if he died, well, he was still one step closer to busting out of this loop. On the other hand, he couldn't promise that. What if, once he gave Bendy his soul, he wouldn't be able to run the loops again? What if it truly caused his death? "Do you mean mine?" He asked._ _

__**Anyone's. It makes no difference.** _ _

__"Yes. I'll get you that soul. After I'm done with you, alright?" Henry cringed at the thought of how he could manage an optimal ending while feeding this beast a human's essence. "Closer" might be all he could hope for in this loop._ _

__Bendy's posture straightened immediately, and he excitedly clasped his hands together. The words **Thank you!** appeared multiple times on the walls, covering previous messages in some places. The ink demon spread his arms, but then drew them back in and shrank into himself, as though he had suddenly become very shy. All the previous messages faded from the walls, replaced with two small, subdued words: **Let's go.**_ _

__Henry chose to ignore Bendy's odd behavior. He certainly didn't want physical contact with the object of his fear. And regardless, they had an angel to find._ _


	3. Down, down, down

Boris caught sight of the approaching duo and promptly panicked. He began to back up, but quickly hit a wall and was left with nothing to do but accept his fate.

"Boris, it's alright. He's helping us now," came Henry's cool, comforting voice. Still shaking, Boris removed one paw from his eyes. The ink demon was right there in front of him, as frightening and repulsive as ever. But, Henry stood before the creature, seemingly unharmed and unafraid. Boris could barely believe his eyes. "Everything's fine. Now, we're going to head to the bottom of the studio. You willing to come with us?"

Well, his other option was to let Henry contend with the horrors of the studio without him, and that wouldn't do. Boris nodded.

The trio set off. They took the angel's path and then the elevator to as far down as it would take them, which was to floor 14. That's where the trouble would begin. "Bendy," Henry asked, "How confident are you that you could win a fight against ol' lighthead down there?

Bendy put ink on the wall: **I'd say I have a 65% chance.**

Well, that wouldn't have been too comforting even before factoring in Joey's natural arrogance. Henry looked around for anything that might help them defeat the Projectionist. At last, he figured it out: the elevator.

"Alright guys, here's the plan. Boris, ride up in the elevator. Bendy, you stick with me. We'll put up a poster where the elevator lands. Then, the two of us will flush out the Projectionist and lead him right here. Bendy, do you think you can handle tackling him to the ground at that point?"

******Definitely. ******** **

"Alright. You do that, and I'll get out of the way. Then, Boris, I'll scream your name, and that's when you bring the elevator down, alright? Bendy, just hold him down until the last second, but leave yourself enough time to teleport away through the poster, alright?"

Bendy nodded.

"Alright. Let's get going."

Henry and Bendy descended to the ground floor and entered the cramped halls in which the Projectionist lurked. Henry could just see himself crashing into those walls as he made a mad dash out of there. The duo made it past three projectors playing Bendy cartoons before they saw the creature's yellow, moving light. Henry stuck out his hand so that the mechanical beast could see it. Its tell-tale roar sounded, and Henry took it as cue to then run away as fast as his legs could carry him. Bendy, perhaps by virtue of having slightly less adrenaline in his system, was not keeping up with Henry's pace. In a moment of profound foolishness, Henry attempted to squeeze past the demon, which only left him stumbling into the ink. Bendy turned around and push-kicked the Projectionist in the stomach, sending him against the nearest wall and buying the duo more time. The two made it back out into the inky abyss of level 14. Henry dashed up the stairs and made it to the elevator platform, only to turn around and see Bendy gone and the Projectionist a foot from his face. Just as the Projectionist swung at Henry, Bendy appeared out of a nearby poster and tackled the Projectionist to the ground. Henry stumbled back in shock. The two ink monsters locked arms and wrestled. The ink demon was struggling-but most definitely winning. The words ripped across the wall in tight, frantic scribble: ** ** ** ****The plan! I can't do this forever!**** ** ** **

Taken out of his stupor, Henry screamed, "Boris, now!" and scrambled off of the elevator platform. Bendy got up and ran for the wall, and the Projectionist followed, but Bendy had phased through it before he could catch him. The monstrosity barely had time to look up before being unceremoniously crushed. "We did it!" Henry cried, and offered the ink demon a high-five. Bendy was distracted, however. He pressed the button to open up the elevator and dashed in. Henry took out his seeing tool. Through it, he could see that a blue wisp was about to phase through the ceiling of the elevator. Bendy had to jump to reach it. When he had it, he held it up to his mouth and let it flow in through his teeth.

"We'll have to be more careful about that," Henry mused, putting down the seeing tool and picking up his journal to add the information. This had almost become a failed loop. Come to think of it, he hadn't yet recorded this new way to kill the Projectionist, either. Or his most important discovery: how to tame the ink demon. That wouldn't do. He stepped into the elevator. "Congratulations, guys. You did great." He gave Boris' shoulder an affectionate squeeze. "Now, I'd like some time to record everything you guys have taught me. Do you think you could find a soft spot on these floorboards while I do that? I'd like to hack my way through them with my ax to get down further."

Bendy nodded. In contrast, Henry could feel Boris wince. He stepped out of the elevator with Bendy, his head lowered. "Something wrong, bud?" Henry asked.

Text appeared on the floor: ** ** ** ****He's scared to be with me when you aren't with us to protect him.** ********Henry sighed. The past several hundred loops, Boris had consistently been two things: pleasant and useless. "Okay. You can stay with me."

Henry didn't think he'd ever let anyone watch him write in his journal before. It felt almost like divulging a filthy secret. Boris didn't seem to mind, though. "You see this, Boris? This is how I'm going to get us out of here. It's how I can be sure I'm making progress, no matter how long this takes or how many mistakes I make. It's all leading to something, and this is the closest I've ever been." Of course, Boris couldn't respond. No hand gesture could have done as a response to that. Still, it felt amazing to have someone that understood his quest.

After finishing up, Henry went to find Bendy, and Boris followed. They found him in the corner of the room. He'd moved a few boxes, and was pointing to a part of the thoroughly ink-covered floor. "There? Alright," Henry said, before hacking at the floor with his ax. The several inches of thick, tar-like ink on the floor did not make it an easy task. It felt as though he was barely making a dent in the floor. But once he did finally did knock a small hole into the ground, it slowly got easier. Heartened, he gave a few more swings before coming to a terrible realization. "Oh no. Bendy, Alice is down there. And Tom. They're very sensitive to ink. I need you to go down there and see if they're anywhere near below here. Preferably without scaring them. Alright?"

Bendy nodded, then phased through the wall. He came back a moment later and gave a thumbs up. My, was it useful to have an ink demon around. Henry returned the gesture, then kept hacking. Eventually, he tired out and gave Boris a turn. Boris caught a lucky break and broke a larger hole through the floorboards fairly quickly, draining enough ink to make it a far easier task. Soon, there was enough room for the two to fit through. Henry looked through the hole. Thankfully, the next floor down was only a hallway with a relatively low ceiling. Henry and Boris lowered each other down. The trio then repeated the process with the next floor, finally arriving at the level where Allison and Tom had their base.

"What should we do now?" Henry asked, expecting no response from his mute companions. He opened up his journal to the floor map of their current level, but found it to be incomplete. "Let's just keep walking, I guess," Henry suggested. The trio eventually came upon a cave-like area from which a barge could be launched. "I think they'll be the other way. Bendy, uh, please make yourself scarce until I tell you to, alright? They'll probably feel threatened if you show up without an explanation. Bendy nodded and faded into a wall through a poster.

As Henry progressed through the cluttered and often ink-flooded hallway, whacking aside a few searchers along the way, he began to pick up on Alice's beautiful singing voice. She often sang like that while drawing on the walls, plotting her next idea to try and escape from this hellhole of a studio. He knocked on the door, and the singing stopped. Alice opened it. "Hello? Um, who are you?"

Henry held up the seeing tool and his journal. "It's a long story. But I want to help get everyone out of here, and I need your help."

Alice looked down at the tools. "What are these?" she asked. "How did you...?"

"It's a long story. And yes, that's the same seeing tool you have. Can I come in? We have a lot to talk about."


	4. Sacrifice

Alice put the journal down. She looked the way Henry probably had after reading the first three pages. "Wow," she breathed. After taking a while to collect her thoughts, she finally came up with a response. "So, you want to save the souled creatures. And you came here because Tom and I are good companions? Is that it?"

"Well, no. You see, to save them, I've enlisted in some...unconventional help."

"Oh?"

"I need to reconnect the souls to the bodies to bring them back to life. In other words, I need to perform necromancy. And the only creature that can do that is a demon."

"You're going to try and tame him!?"

"Actually, I already did." Alice stared at Tom in disbelief, but Henry carried on. "And he told me that only an angel could purify a soul. So, unless I want to lead out a group of crazies and check them right in to a madhouse... well, I thought it would be best to come to you. Can you help?"

"Well, I can try. Have you captured any souls yet?"

"We've captured one, and I could take Susie's whenever I want. Do you promise not to be alarmed if I call Bendy in here?"

"Go ahead."

Henry looked around the base. There were no posters. He excused himself into the hallway to call the demon, and came back with him. Tom's mouth fell open, as though he were thinking, I thought you were pulling our legs. Alice, on the other hand, seemed calm. Bendy brought his hand to his mouth, apparently pulled the soul out, and offered it to Alice. Alice observed the invisible object as though she were a mechanic staring at a broken engine, squinting at it and seeming to grow more and more dispirited. Finally, she put it on the table and looked down.

"Is this even a human soul?" Alice asked, almost in disbelief.

"It once belonged to a man named Norman Polk. He became creature you call the projectionist."

"Oh, that explains it. I can't fix this. I'm sorry."

"Why not?"

"It's just too damaged. It's not even sapient anymore."

"Well, can't you at least try?" Henry asked. From behind him, inky tendrils were spreading around Bendy.

"No. Imagine imagine a soul like a page in a book. Undoing damage is like taking a few scrambled words and putting them back to normal. You can mostly tell by context what the word is meant to be. But this-" Alice paused to look up at the alarming spreading tendrils.

"Bendy, can you stop?" Henry asked, keeping the annoyance out of his voice. Bendy shook his head. He was rapt, leaning forwards. Not knowing what else to do, Henry turned back to Alice. "Go on, Alice."

"This is like a page with almost every word scrambled. I wouldn't be bringing this person back. I'd be making a new one from whole cloth. And even then, it would take me days. This is a dead man, Henry." Alice's voice grew tenser as she continued, and it was not hard to see why.

The room was an inky abyss by now, its features barely visible. words were appearing on the walls, but Henry couldn't read them for how dark the walls had become. The ink demon was peering over Henry's shoulder like a predator looking through the brush. In a quick movement, he snatched the journal out of Tom's hands. Henry's breath grew ragged. His progress- his everything! It was in the hands of that monster.

"Bendy...I can't save you without that! Please-" 

Bendy opened the book to its last page- a blank one, Henry knew, and pointed to it to put words on it. Henry could see that the beast was breathing heavily as well. He turned the book. It read, in letters big enough to fill the page and drip off the sides of it, **GIVE ME THE SOUL**. 

"That is a good idea," Alice said. There was tension in her voice, but she seemed genuine.

Henry did not agree. But one loop for the safety of his journal was a small price to pay. "Yes. You can have the soul," he said. Immediately the inky tendrils contracted somewhat, leaving visible words spanning the walls in messages such as **I MUST HAVE IT** , **THE SOUL IS MINE** , **THE JOURNAL IS LEVERAGE** , and most frightening of all, **IT WILL CHANGE ME**. Bendy drew back the ink from the journal and the walls and handed the book back to Henry, who drew it into him like a child might a cling to a blanket.

"I should void the soul first," Alice suggested, "Erase the words, make it a blank slate. I can do it while we head down to the machine."

"Go down to the machine?"

"It's needed to transfer souls," she explained.

"Alright."

Henry knew then that it was the end of this loop. He'd speculated that Bendy was using souls to turn into his monstrous final form, but now, with that message on the wall, it was sure.

The five made their way down. Tom took up the rear, staying on the lookout for any dangers that might be following. Alice was next, too preoccupied with the soul to be alert to danger. Then Boris. Henry followed the ink demon, who was taking them along at a quick pace that forced Henry to run to keep up. Bendy's excitement was obvious. Words sprayed on the walls only to immediately drip off. Most of the words went by too quickly for Henry to read, but he could see what an elated, messy scrawl they were, and he could catch a few words: " **transform** ," " **anew,** " " **finally** ," and for some Godforsaken reason, " **love**." In his rampage, butcher gang members and lost ones dissolved the moment they grew near his inky aura. Thankfully, Alice, Boris, and Tom stayed far enough away to be unaffected.

Finally making it to the pit before the administration office, Bendy immediately jumped down, leaving the others in the dust. Henry, exhausted from all the running, stopped to catch his breath. "Alice..." he said as soon as he had the air to, "you have rope, right? We need to keep up with him."

"Indeed I do," she answered. Henry used the rope to climb down the pit, and tied it on hook well into dry land so that none of the ink creatures would have to risk touching the corruptive substance. By the time all four were down, however, the ink demon was nowhere to be seen. Henry noticed a poster on the wall, with a few excited but already fading phrases written around it. "Oh, no. We're too late." With his luck, that creature had already swallowed the end tape by now.

"It's alright," Alice said, "It's not like he can actually do anything without the soul, anyhow."

"Yeah, the transforming part isn't what I'm afraid of," Henry replied.

"Well, we'll only be later if we waste time feeling sorry for ourselves. Let's go." 

The group was able to make quick work of the audio vault, killing the butcher gang with their axes and machete and only needing one trip to collect the thick ink required to repair the drainage system. Henry took a deep breath as the group finally approached that impassable river of ink.

"I suppose that this is where you have to leave me?" Henry asked, though it wasn't really a question. 

"Sorry, but yes. We'd dissolve in that ink in a second. Here, take this," Alice handed Henry the soul. Though he couldn't see it, he cupped his hands around it as though it was everything to him. "Give it to the demon. I have a feeling that this won't end as badly as you think it will." 

"Very well," Henry said, "And thanks for everything." He knew then that he'd be facing the end of this time loop as he did all the others: alone. He stepped into the inky river, stopping to look back at the trio. Instead, he saw Boris dashing in behind him, wielding Tom's ax. He scampered to the other side as quickly as the viscous ink would allow, pulled himself onto the other side, and shook off. Black drips hung down into the white parts of his character design as a result of ink damage, and his form seemed a good bit less solid than usual,but he was otherwise unharmed. Henry smiled, touched at his friend's loyalty. He got up onto the other side of the river and helped his companion to his feet. "Thanks, buddy," Henry cooed. He didn't remember, but it seemed from the journal that he always loved loops where Boris stayed alive and with him. 

Together, they entered the demon's throne room. Everything, from the projections on the walls to the chains on the throne, was intact. There weren't even any extra messages on the walls. For a moment, Henry got his hopes up. Holding onto that dash of optimism, he opened the film case.

It was empty. Henry's pace quickened. He fell to his knees.

"Boris, I'm trapped," Henry said in a hopeless monotone. "I can't get out of here without that. I'm going to rot. I'm going to be a lost one. I'm never going to see Linda again. Oh my-" At the beginning of Henry's breakdown, Boris had been attempting to comfort Henry. Then, something else caught his eye, and he'd drifted towards it. Now, he was trying to get Henry's attention. "Hmm?"

Boris pointed to a room adjacent the throne room. Within it, Bendy was sitting down cross-legged inside one of four glass tubes. The duo entered. Small, polite letters appeared on the glass tube: **Please give me the soul**. Not knowing what else to do, Henry pressed his palm against the glass, opening the hand that held the soul. Bendy reached out to grab it, as though he were grabbing a fly. Then, the tube flooded with high-pressure black ink. The transformation had begun.


	5. Risk

Bendy fell onto his hands and knees, coughing and sputtering on the ink as it drained away. This was it. If this hadn't changed him, nothing would. He would be a loathsome monster forever. The anticipation nearly made him shake. Cautiously, he lifted a hand to his face. It felt wet-he nearly panicked before remembering that he'd recently been suspended in liquid and would have been covered in it regardless. His other hand found his side. It didn't feel like an inch-thick layer of sludge over bone. It was solid and rounded. Bendy smiled, and smiled wider when he realized he could move his face now. He wiped the ink from his face. He'd done it. He was lovable.

The tube lifted, and he hopped out, noting how much bigger the jump was at under half his old height, and how that still didn't make his left foot scream in pain. "Testing...oh, yes! I can speak! Oh, this is amazing! When can show this Joey Drew?"

Henry looked stern. "We aren't doing anything until you help us save the others."

"Oh, right. Of course." Bendy had forgotten about that in his utter elation. "But first, shouldn't we fix Boris?"

"Fix Boris?"

"Y'know, fix this ink damage," he explained, touching Boris' arm and then pulling his hand away, causing a few globby strings of ink to come with it. He seemed a bit taken aback by how much there was, and so did Boris. "Woah. You're in pretty rough shape, buddy. I can tell you're pretty ink-tough, but still, let's get you in that machine." With that, Bendy began leading Boris by the hand to the ink machine. Henry followed.

"How do you know how the ink machine works?" Henry asked.

"I was trapped down here a long time. Thankfully, Sammy asked what I wanted a few times, yelling through the walls within hearing distance of me. I wanted cutouts everywhere. I can see through em', you see. I saw a lot of things in my years, including some different uses of the machine."

"Ah, I see," Henry replied. It seemed like a reasonable explanation, and the demon had no reason to lie. He seemed happy as could be. Henry couldn't help but be nervous as they entered the ink machine chamber that harbored the small, movable part of the machine. 

"Alright, Boris. In you go," Bendy instructed. Boris looked confused. Then, he looked at Henry for guidance. Normally, Henry would have encouraged Boris to obey. It would be a good experiment, resulting in information on the ink machine for his journal. Now, with the end tape gone and this loop most likely his last chance? Henry hesitated. A thick glob of ink trailed down Boris' glove and began to pool on the ground. This was a toon who _needed_ repairs.

"It's okay, Boris. Go into the machine," he said in a calm, reassuring voice. Boris nodded, then climbed into the massive pipe. "How long will it take?" Henry asked Bendy.

"A few hours. Let's go back to the others, shall we?" Bendy said, sounding utterly contented. Henry took a deep breath and followed the ink demon out.

The duo found Tom and Alice, who were constructing a walkway over the ink river. Though it was nowhere near completion, Henry couldn't help but wonder if Boris could have made it back, now that it was half the distance through ink. Nonetheless, he accepted that he might have killed Boris for nothing, and walked over to the duo.

"Oh, Henry! How did it go?" Alice asked before Bendy emerged from the river behind him. She gasped, then smiled. "Better than I could have hoped. Wonderful! But where's Boris?"

"Bendy put him in the machine," Henry said, a hint of sourness escaping into his voice, "He said it was to fix his ink damage from swimming over to me."

Henry prayed that Alice would show some reaction to this, to let him know if Boris was okay. Unfortunately, her only response was, "Oh, so that's how it works. Alright. Now, let's plan this out. Henry, you know the most about all this, so you lead us."

"Alright. Let's see: who's left to save?" Henry checked his guidebook. "Bertrum Piedmont: soul residing in an octopus ride in Storage 9. Lacie, presumably a lost one or searcher. Grant Cohen, ditto. Let's split up. Bendy, Tom, go get some physical remains of the people that we want to bring back. Keep your eyes out for searchers or lost ones who talk or show individuality. Alice, you come with me, and together we'll kill Bertrum. Then, we'll regroup and make a plan to find Lacie and Grant, if you haven't already found him.

"Sounds good," Alice replied. "But first, we should kill the other Alice. We're going to have to do it eventually to extract her soul. Why keep her alive now? She'll just be a danger if she escapes."

"You're right," he admitted. He wasn't looking forward to the task of killing a helpless little woman.

Tom was hunched in concern and rubbing his forehead with one paw- something that Henry had never seen the gruff old wolf do before. "You'll have to excuse him," Alice said. "He was nearly killed by her before I found him. He's not looking forward to seeing her again.

"Don't worry, you can stay here. I can do it alone."

"With Bendy," Alice corrected. "You need to collect her soul, remember?"

"Right," he said, keeping the frustration out of his voice.

The two set out for Alice Angel's merch room. Henry had to tell the little toon to stop running ahead of him three times. It thoroughly disgusted him how lovable Bendy was acting, as though he hadn't just recently been antagonizing them and holding years of his progress hostage to get his way. As though he hadn't just destroyed Henry's sense of trial-and-error and replaced it with constant risk. It reminded him of how friendly and pitiful Joey had been acting right before suggesting he visit the studio.

Acting. Joey Drew had always been good at acting to get his way. Acting as a caring, passionate artist. Acting as a harmless, lonely old man. Acting as a menacing monster. And now, acting like an adorable, childlike toon. Watching Bendy prance around in a way that would fool anyone else made Henry feel older than he ever had in his life. "Kid, we're about to murder someone!" he snapped, "Maybe show some respect and stop acting so cheery."

"Sorry," he replied, and fell into lockstep beside Henry.

Finally, they reached the room that contained the Alice Angel clone. Alice, still bound, turned to face them as the door creaked open, looking vulnerable and sad. Henry slowly stepped forwards, as he might approach a wild animal he didn't want to scare off.

Alice squirmed helplessly in her binds. "Stop, please!" she shrieked. Henry tried putting a hand over her mouth, but she bit down on it until it bled. "Don't you dare disrespect an angel!"

"Alice, it's-"

She spotted the toon. "Bendy, do something, please! We're the same, remember? The creator lied to us! And this one's lying to us now! he wants to kill me!"

"It's for your own good!" Henry yelled, though he doubted she could hear a word he said over her own panic. It was clear that, as he'd feared, there would be no reasoning with her. Henry raised his ax and brought it down on her chest. Blood-like ink spilled out. She shrieked in pain. 

"The creator lied to us! Please, Bendy!" Bendy winced at the sight, but did nothing. Henry raised the ax above his head and brought it down a second time, into her stomach. It would have been enough to kill a human, for certain. "Don't you remember me?" were her last desperate words, before Henry struck her in the head, killing her instantly. Bendy cupped his hands over her escaping soul and ate it.

Bendy found himself still staring at her dead body. "She'll be back soon," he said to himself.

"Yes. She'll be saner and happier, too," Henry added emotionlessly. "This was for the best."

Walking back, the two were silent. Henry passed the words "The creator lied to us" on the wall. "Y'know, I'd always assumed that it was you who'd written that. But, I suppose he did lie pretty despicably to Susie."

"No, I wrote it," Bendy replied.

"Well, then, I've always wondered: what did he tell you that you're so mad about?"

Bendy looked down, looking as though he were about to cry. "It's... a long story."

This could be useful, or at least interesting information. Thinking of his journal, Henry replied, "Well, let's hear it."


	6. The Creator Lied to Us

Bendy heard a knock at the door to the supply closet in which he was being kept. He made no motion to open it or answer in any way since he was both locked in and entirely mute.

"Can I come in?" called a delicate voice. A small, blonde woman entered. "You don't mind if I talk to you, do you? Well, of course you don't. You could probably do with the company."

Bendy nodded, sat down on one of the boxes, and patted a neighbouring one. Susie Campell sat down on it. "Thanks. I just..." her warm smile fell, and she looked ready to cry. "I'm so sick of working here. It's like a reminder that I can't play Alice anymore. Joey Drew's got so little voice work for me now that he's having me work the front desk half the time. I never came here to play assistant to a secretary." She put her head in her hands a moment, then looked up again at Bendy, giving him a grateful smile. "Thanks for listenin' to me whine. It's kind of you."

Bendy patted Susie on the back, but that only made her cringe.

"My blouse!" she squealed. Bendy drew back his arm, sucking back every drop of ink with him. "Wait. You can clean up after yourself?" Bendy nodded. "Well. Then what are you being kept in here for?"

Bendy gave an honest shrug.

"I'm sure Joey has his reasons. But you know what? To Hell with Joey Drew and his reasons!" Susie sounded downright jubilant. "You shouldn't have to stay cooped up here just because Joey doesn't want you in public. You go stretch your legs. Just come back here after, and make sure to clean up after yourself, alright?"

Bendy nodded.

"Alright. Well, thanks again. See you soon, Bendy."

With that, Susie left, leaving the door cracked. Bendy waited for a few minutes so no one would suspect what Susie had done, and headed out. He didn't know where he was going, but it wasn't for a stroll: he was going to find some people. Joey thought that he wasn't suitable for the public? He'd prove him wrong. Susie clearly found him endearing. Just not when he touched her, so he wouldn't do that. This was his chance.

He opened the door to the waiting room. Two people screamed, but he was undeterred. He sat himself down in a chair next to a woman, folded his hands in his lap and met her eyes, trying to look as endearing as possible. The woman recoiled and proceeded to move to a different seat. Determined not to take it personally, Bendy moved on to the next person.

Susie's voice sounded over the intercom: "Everyone, remain calm. The monster is harmless. We will help you shortly."

How nice of her to back him up! Heartened by his friend's support, Bendy gave a warm wave to the largely uncomfortable and repulsed crowd in the waiting room. This wasn't working. Deciding to switch back to the individual approach, he began to approach an old man. A hand grabbed his shoulder before he could. It was Susie. "Come with me," she said firmly.

They exited the waiting room and headed straight for Joey Drew's office. Thomas Connor was already there. Both looked stunned.

"Susie, what's going on, here?" Joey asked.

"Bendy got out. He was in the waiting room."

Thomas Connor grit his teeth. "That no-good Wally Franks probably left his supply closet wide open!"

"What? No!" Susie interjected. "It was me. I didn't mean for him to get into the public. I just-" Susie looked down, humiliated and unable to speak further.

"Hmm... well, I'll deal with you later Susie. For now, though, we need to get this creature sealed up in the machine. Can't have it getting out again."

That did not sound good. Bendy dropped to his knees, clasped his hands together, and shook them.

"Oh, Mr. Drew, you're scaring him! Can't I wait with him outside the office while you decide what to do?"

"It...ahem...he understands English? Well! Care to leave us alone for a moment? Susie, to your office. Mr. Connor, meet me in the ink machine." The duo left, the latter looking stern and apathetic, the former casting a concerned glance. Joey Drew turned to face Bendy. The second the man's eyes were on him again, he repeated the begging motion, more desperately this time.

"Now, now. There's no need to beg. I would never harm you," he cooed. "Don't you know who I am? I'm your creator. Your father. We were talking about putting you into the machine because that's what it'll take to make you look like this," Joey motioned at a poster that read, "Nightmare Faire." Bendy looked up at it.

It featured an adorable, tubby little imp with an expressive face. He had the same horns, the same gloves and even the same smile as Bendy, almost as if that was what he was supposed to look like. No, that was it. He was meant to look that way. No wonder people recoiled before him, then. Compared to that creature, he was utterly repulsive. A hideous failed replica of something so... so...

"Lovable." Joey Drew continued, taking Bendy out of his daze. "That machine will make you lovable, just as you should be. We won't lock you up-not for longer than it takes, anyhow. Some of the process might seem a little strange, but just cooperate with Mr. Connor, alright?"

Bendy would have worn a smile even if his mouth wasn't frozen in one. He turned to his father and nodded heartily, wondering at how to best show his thankfulness. He spread his arms to offer Joey a hug of gratitude.

Joey smiled awkwardly. "After. It won't take long." Bendy didn't feel rejected. He was about to be lovable! He couldn't wait!

The two walked to the machine together, meeting Thomas Connor along the way. Joey was thankful that Thomas Connor was silent as to why the ink creature was suddenly so compliant. Nonetheless, they took him to the inner chamber, and shackled him to its walls with strong chain. Bendy waved goodbye as Joey left. Joey met the demon's eyes, but didn't bother waving back. The deed was done. The lights turned off as the two left. Bendy began to get worried.

Hours passed. Bendy didn't feel like he was changing. He lay on the ground or wandered in the tiny circles his chain allowed, letting hours to turn to days. Long, lonely days. He heard Susie's screams and muffled voice, along with Sammy's and Joey's, and he scratched and pounded at the walls to make his presence known, but they never came to see him.

Never. Not for months. Not for years. Not as Susie became the first of many. Eventually, Bendy broke his chains, then broke the wall of the machine, but by then the studio and everything in it had been abandoned.

\---

"That's why I wanna see Joey again. He's my dad, and I wanna show him that I don't need to be locked up and hidden away. That I'm not an abomination anymore!" Bendy spat the word 'abomination' out like it was poisoned. By now, tears were rolling down his face.

Oh...Bendy." Henry murmured sympathetically. "Joey was wrong about you. You never deserved that, no matter what you looked like. And you know something else?"

"What?"

"He's not your creator, either. I am. I made your character concept, back in the day."

"My dad...he didn't lock me up. He didn't think I was a monster..." Bendy looked down, looking like he was re-evaluating his life.

The word "dad" made Henry nervous. He did not need a creature with Joey's imprint in his life. Not in the slightest.

"No. I never thought of you as a monster. Not once I got to know you," he lied. Against his best judgement, Henry scooped Bendy up into a tender hug. Maybe it was just to move the situation along so they could get back to work. Maybe it was because, even though he knew Bendy was being manipulative, it was working. Henry took genuine pity on him. "It's gonna be alright," he whispered. "Don't cry. I'm gonna get us out of here." He could feel Bendy bury his face in his chest and cry into it. Bendy had needed this for what had felt like forever.


	7. Around and Around

After the group was reunited, Henry gave Tom his seeing tool and explained the location of the coffins. He, Boris, and Bendy set off to collect the physical remains, and Henry and Alice set off to kill Bertrum. Alice quickly noticed that Henry looked ready to punch something.

"Something wrong, Henry?" she asked.

Henry uncurled his fists, suddenly aware and rather embarrassed at how angry he seemed. "Oh, nothing. Bendy has this baby duckling thing for me. Joey told him that a creator is like a father, and, well, I'm his creator. That's all."

"You know, there's a reason why I sent you off with him. I could have just gone myself if collecting the soul was the only reason. Why don't you trust him, Henry?"

"Why's that so strange to you? You saw how he was acting. You know that everyone here either has a soul or is imprinted upon by someone. Well, is it really any wonder who his imprint is?" Vehemence crept into Henry's normally calm voice. "It's Joey! Bendy is selfish! He's manipulative! He threatened _years_ of my progress to get his way! And yeah, he's acting friendly now, but he's just playing as an adorable toon now instead of a kindly showman! God, Alice, I just want Joey out of my life once I get out of here. I don't need a piece of him calling me 'dad!'"

"Woah, Henry, wait. Bendy doesn't have Joey's imprint. No ink creature has an imprint _and _a soul. What he did before might as well have been done by another person. That blank soul makes him the purest toon out of all of us. No one else's memories or personality there at all. He's just Bendy now."__

__"Oh my God," Henry whispered, attempting to absorb that crazy information. Letting Bendy in wouldn't be letting a piece of Joey back into his life. Just the sweet little devil he used to draw._ _

__"So it wasn't an act... Tell me, how much of his old memory does he have?"_ _

__"Well, this hasn't really happened before. But if I had to guess? All of it."_ _

__No wonder then, why Bendy was so desperate for love and a father figure. Suddenly, none of those white lies Henry had told Bendy were lies anymore._ _

__"Thank you for telling me. Now, let's go kill us an octopus."_ _

__With that, the two set off into the room containing Bertrum Piedmont, or what was left of him. Joey, for some godforsaken reason, had fused the man with an octopus-style amusement park ride. The outside of the ride was the same sickly sepia tone as everything else in the studio, but if you looked carefully, you could see where metal ended and bloated flesh began. The only word that could describe it was "macabre"._ _

__"Ready?" Henry asked Alison._ _

__"Ready," she replied. Henry turned on the empty tape, and Bertrum began to speak._ _

__"The biggest park ever built, a centerfold of attractions, each one more grand than the one before it," came an imposing, bitter voice, "It makes my eyes come to tears at the thought. But then... Oh, Mr Drew... for a man who speaks so often of dreams, you are the true architect behind so many nightmares. You might think I'm gone, but I'M- Wait...? Who is this with you? Joey, How could you? I cannot curse you out and kill you with a lady in the room!"_ _

__"Well, this is convenient," Henry deadpanned to Alice. Then, the two ran forward. Henry sunk his axe through one of the arms' joint. Alice stabbed Bertrum in the cheek. The ride sprung to life, leaving Henry barely enough time to duck. He rolled over onto his stomach and looked past the spinning mechanical arms to see Alice climbing the center of the ride. She looked back._ _

__"Look out! She shouted. Henry scrambled out of the way to avoid being crushed by the falling arm. Knowing that he had a few seconds, he ran to the centre of the ride. Alice grabbed his hand and pulled him onto the ride's centre. It started up again, forcing the duo to cling for dear life. They awaited the ride's stop, but it did not stop. Finally, Henry accepted that he had to crawl to the panel. Alice followed his lead._ _

__"Alice, grab my legs!" Henry commanded. She hooked her legs around the center of the ride and obeyed, allowing Henry to work at the panel. With effort, he was able to heave it loose. He threw the panel off the ride, and slammed his fist on the button it revealed. The ride ground to a halt. At last, Henry allowed himself to go limp until the world stopped spinning._ _

__"Damn you to Hell itself!" Bertrum shouted before going on another monologue, which the duo ignored as they climbed down. Alice gave Henry a look that said, "is he going to stop soon?"_ _

__"Let him talk," Henry said calmly. Bertrum eventually finished. Henry stepped forwards, getting closer and closer to Bertrum's face, including his very near-sighted eyes. "Do I look like Joey to you?" Henry asked._ _

__Bertrum stared down. Though the figure before him was still a bit fuzzy, he could make out that the he was effortlessly walking towards him. Joey would have been limping without his cane. As Henry came closer still, Bertrum could recognize that the man was grey-blond and well-built, while Joey had been very thin and dark-haired. "No... You don't," Bertrum concluded._ _

__"That's right. I'm not. My name is Henry Stein. I used to work here as an animator. Joey called me back. I guess that's because I used to be his closest friend, and so he thinks that I'm the one who can solve everything he messed up down here. Honestly, sometimes I consider myself just another one of his victims. But hey, I'm here, and so I might as well try to get out and leave no one behind. I want to make you Bertrum Piedmont again. What do you say?"_ _

__"I say, thank you very much, Henry Stein. Yes, please do."_ _

__"Okay, now close your eyes. This is going to hurt a moment."_ _

__"Don't you dare speak to me like a child!"_ _

__"Alright, I'll be honest, then. We need to kill you and put you through the ink machine. I'd definitely suggest closing your eyes, but it's your choice."_ _

__"Thank you for your honesty, but I cannot move my eyes. I'm ready for your ritual whenever you are."_ _

__Henry beckoned Alice over. "Alright, let's make this quick. I'll count down from three," he said, "One, and two, and three!" on the count of three, Alice stabbed Bertrum through the eye with her sword. For good measure, Henry whacked him in the jaw with his ax, as well. He'd heard that a strong strike to the jaw was a good way to knock someone out. It seemed to be true in this case, as Bertrum was out cold. Alice reached up and captured Bertrum's soul as it escaped from him. Two down, two to go._ _


	8. The Church of Unity

Alice and Henry met back up with the others in the ink machine. Thomas and Boris had a bone in each hand, each marked with the first letter of the owner's name. 

"Any sign of the lost ones?" Henry asked.

"We had to kill a few searchers," Bendy replied. "Did you kill Bertrum?"

"Yes, we did. So, I suppose our next move should be to investigate the lost ones. They're a pretty mysterious bunch. Even I don't have much information on them. Alice, can you help me out?"

"Well, I can see their souls," she admitted, almost as though she was ashamed.

"They all have souls?!" Henry exclaimed. That would mean that Joey had sacrificed dozens of people to the ink machine!

"Well, not really. Not the way you're thinking. Think of them like a giant conglomerate of souls. A single searcher might have a the equivalent of a third of a soul, or three souls."

"Okay. But how did that happen? Did Joey kill them all?"

"I don't know. I wasn't made yet. I don't know who made me, or why, but I'm newer than them. Bendy, do you know?"

"Well, I did see quite a bit through the cutouts. At a certain point, Joey Drew stopped coming here, and the others stopped leaving at night. I don't know why that is, but they were really scared, and they couldn't get out. And gradually, they just got inkier, and they started acting more alike. I don't hear most of them talk often, anymore."

"Those poor things..." Henry muttered. So, that's what had happened to everyone. They weren't sacrificed. They were trapped here until their bodies dissolved. All because of Joey's disgusting cowardice. "So, what do we do about this?"

Alice sighed. "I don't know. They hate angels with a burning passion. If only we had someone on our side that they trusted."

"Wait, I can do that. I know of a lost one named Sammy Lawrence. He leads a cult of them. Let's find him!"

The group set out for the second basement floor, calling Sammy's name out periodically along the way. Somehow, the studio seemed even quieter than usual. Sammy wasn't anywhere to be seen.

"Wait," Henry said, "Alice, you said that the lost ones hate you. Does Sammy hate you, too?"

"Well, I've never met him, but it seems likely."

"Alright. Maybe we should leave you in Boris' safe house so that he won't avoid us. Bendy, do you think that Sammy would still... you know... be religiously attracted to you?"

"I don't know the first thing that goes on in that maniac's head. But we can hope. Plus," Bendy levitated a baseball-sized glob of ink from the ground. "I still have what he worshiped me for."

"Alright. We'll take Tom along for extra muscle, as well."

"Fair," Alice said, "See you once you've found Sammy."

With that, the group split up. Unsure of how to attract Sammy, the trio wandered around a while, ending up in the recording studio.

"Maybe he's in his sanctuary?" Henry wondered aloud.

"I wouldn't know. There's no cutouts in there," Bendy replied.

"Bendy, that's it!" Henry exclaimed, "You can see all over the studio. Just use your powers and we'll find him in seconds!"

Bendy looked delighted to be of use. "You got it!" He chirped before dashing into a poster. He was back out very quickly. "He's probably in his sanctuary. There's cutouts almost everywhere else, and I can't find him anywhere."

"Alright. Well, he worships you. Go knock on the door and tell him you're here."

"Okay," he said, and scampered over to the door. He gave it a few knocks, and called, "Oh, Sammy...! Your lord is here to release you from the inky abyss that is your body!" in a sing-song voice.

"Ugh...Jack! I told you, this is my alone place. We can goof off together later."

Henry stepped up to the door, giving it a firmer knock. "Sammy, he's telling the truth. Come out and see for yourself."

"Hmm... your voice... familiar..." Sammy responded. The trio waited nearly a full minute after that, but Sammy gave no further response. Henry could hear pencil scratches through the door.

"Well, we're just going to keep on making noise until you come out!" Bendy announced, picking up a violin. Tom looked incredulously at Henry, who smiled and shrugged in response. Bendy began playing the violin. In order to balance out the resulting dying cat noises, Tom howled. Henry took a quick look around the studio and made a beeline for the piano, but before he could even begin to play it, the door slammed open. For half a second, Sammy was hunched in anger. Then, he caught sight of Bendy.

"My lord! My lord, you've truly come!" he cheered, picking up Bendy and spinning in a circle. "Are you going to release me?"

Bendy looked awkward. "About that..."

Henry took over from there. "We want to release everyone we can. That includes you. Right now, we're searching for the souls of Lacie Benton and Grant Cohen. You're the most knowledgeable person here on the nature of the lost ones. I was hoping you could help us." The stab of guilt that came with knowing that they could not save Sammy was almost physical, but Henry could not let that keep him from his goal. He was too close to that optimal ending to stop now.

"My lord...wants to direct me himself?" Sammy asked.

"Sure, if that's how you want it. We wanna see all the lost ones we can, especially the ones that... how did you put it, Henry? Ones that are individuals?"

"It will be pleasure. Would my lord prefer to rest his feet?" Sammy got down on his knees and leaned forward.

Bendy climbed up onto Sammy's shoulder. "Thanks. And, um... Sammy? I'll heal you and all that, but truth be told I never liked the whole 'lord' thing."

"My lord is so humble!" was Sammy's only response. He got up and began leading the group down a stairwell. He came upon a locked room, dug some keys out of his pocket, and opened the door.

The room's floor was mostly broken, but the lost ones seemed to have made a makeshift elevator there. "Hop on," Sammy said, "It's totally safe. For one person at a time, anyhow."

Henry took one look at the rickety thing, little more than a raft held up with rope, which was in turn running through a few pulleys hanging from the ceiling. He was fairly sure it wasn't just his fear of elevators talking when he decided it did not look safe. Nonetheless, down Sammy went, Bendy riding on his shoulder. As Bendy descended, a look of awe spread across his face. "Henry, you need to see this!" he exclaimed.

The platform ascended back up. Henry took a deep breath and stepped onto it. He clung to the rope and squeezed his eyes shut until it hit the ground. When he opened his eyes, a large, imposing building stood before him. It wasn't very well made: none of the lost ones' buildings were. Nonetheless, Henry could tell that special effort had been put into this one. Not only was it the biggest building he'd seen the lost ones construct, it seemed to be made to imitate a church, complete with a wooden steeple with a belfry, a spire, and a candle glowing as the lantern. 

"Church of Unity, huh?" Bendy said, reading the sign that had been carefully painted in black ink. "Is this one of those cults that try to make everyone give up their identity and be the same all the time?"

Sammy seemed taken aback. "Nothing could be farther from the truth! Simply the opposite!" he exclaimed. "Come. There is a reason I have led you here."

The three entered the church. Henry had been expecting a large area for giving sermons, complete with pews. Instead, only a thin hallway lined with doors lay ahead of them. Sammy opened one of them. Inside was a bed and a single lost one. "Hello, there," Sammy said in a gentle voice. "You don't mind if some guests watch us, do you? I want to show them what it is we do here."

The lost one shook its head. It reached out to pet Tom, but, Tom grabbed his hand before it could.

"Alright," Sammy continued, "Now, last time I met with you, you said that you have memories of Ireland. Well, I found an audiotape of someone with an Irish accent. Does the name, 'Shawn Flynn' raise any memories in you?"

The lost one thought on that, then nodded.

"Perfect. Now, I want you to think about the heavenly toy shop. Remember when it was in color? Remember giving free toys to the kids once or twice while Joey's back was turned?" 

The lost one shook its head sadly.

"Well, perhaps this will jog your memory." Sammy dug into the pockets of his overalls and produced a tape recorder. He played it. The lost one held onto the tape recorder, his posture straightening as it filled him up with joy. Bendy tugged at Henry's pant leg. "Use your seeing tool," he whispered. Henry obeyed. Sparks of various colors were coming off of the lost one, making their way into various puddles of ink, and a few even making their way into Sammy. Meanwhile, orange sparks were entering him. "I..." the lost one began, sounding as though it had nearly forgotten how to speak. "My name... it's Shawn Flynn. I remember...so much. Oh, thank you, reverend!"

"Well, I'd say you're welcome, but you do have a habit of letting this happen. Same advice as usual, Shawn. Don't touch ink, ink creatures, or lost ones, take plenty of time to be by yourself, and find something you're passionate about. Since it's late, I'll let you stay here one more night. Sweet dreams, little sheep."

With that, Sammy led the group back out into the hall.

"Wow," Henry breathed. "I thought you were just, well..."

"A madman?

"I didn't mean it like that."

"Well, I did try to sacrifice you. But this is an equally important part of my work. Just think: How would our lord be able to make us ourselves again if "ourselves" didn't even exist? We're meant to be one soul in one body- unified. That's why it's called the Church of Unity."

"That's... incredible. Let me tell you, bud, if someone had told me that irritable ol' Sammy Lawrence had gone on to become a pastor and was helping people with their identities, well, I would have laughed. This place did some crazy things to you, but they weren't all bad things."

"We've both risen under the gun, it seems. I never thought that diffident little Henry Stein would be the one to earn our lord's respect."

"Try not calling me 'lord,'" Bendy protested, but it fell on deaf ears.

"And anyhow, I would be no better than them if I did not have my passion. I never stopped writing music. I remember one night, Jack and I performed my masterpiece- my most stunning composition of all. All of the lost ones just melted into each other at the sound. Weeks of work- lost. But, imagine giving it to the people out there- whose struggle isn't in keeping their soul unified, but in finding unity with others. I must make that a reality."

Henry wanted to cry. "That's a beautiful dream," he said simply.

"Yes. Now, let me show you to a room. It's late. We can begin a search tomorrow."

"Thanks."

"No, thank you. You know, I kept this for so long, saved it when I was still mostly human. As a reminder." He dug an object out of his pocket. "But now that I know that salvation is coming, I won't need it anymore." He tossed it overhand into a puddle of ink. 

As it flew, Bendy and realized what it was- a small bundle of hair, discolored by ink and held together with a rubber band. "No!" he yelled, and jumped to break its fall. He landed on his stomach, and the hair landed neatly in his gloves. "Whew. That was a close one."

"What...is going on?" Sammy asked, thoroughly confused.

Henry sighed. "Here's the thing, Sammy. We need physical remains to to bring back the dead. So that means... most of your cult isn't going to make it. I'm sorry."

Sammy turned away and balled his fists. "Deceived!" he yelled in a demonic voice, turning back to the trio and showcasing his contempt for personal space. "Betrayed! I ought to slaughter you for your insolence! But, you are in luck! You have underestimated my dedication to the Church of Unity. I will work even with liars to save even a single one of them. Go. Sleep, my little sheep. Tomorrow we will search for what you seek."

With that, Sammy turned away. Tom ran after him and began to silently communicate. "Yes, bring whoever you want. But keep the angel out of sight. She will not be well-liked here. And two beds is all we can spare."

With that, Sammy continued storming off, muttering under his breath and even punching a wall in frustration before turning back to his guests to say, "Actually, I forgive you," in an entirely calm voice. He then teleported out through a poster.

"Yeesh. Alice is gonna have her work cut out with that one," Bendy commented.

With that, Tom got Alice, and Henry and Bendy got Boris, who had emerged unharmed from the ink machine. Tom and Alice had brought back a deck of cards and plenty of bacon soup. It had been a very eventful day, and it was good to finally have some time to cool down, relax, and enjoy some food and each other's company. Tom and Alice shared a bed, and Henry let Bendy sleep with him. Boris went off to be some lucky lost one's new comfort animal.

In the early hours of the morning, the group woke up to a lost one's screaming over a speaker system. "EVACUATE THE SHORE. EVACUATE THE SHORE. THE HAND IS COMING."

The group immediately went to the window to make sure that they were sufficiently inland. Indeed, while they could see the shore, there was a row of small buildings between it and the church. The giant hand emerged and groped for victims, but thankfully everyone had heeded the intercom.

"Uh, Henry? I got some bad news," Bendy said.

"What is it?"

"That thing? It has a soul."


	9. The Battle of the Hand

"What do you mean, I should sit this one out?" Henry asked.

"You could drown. There's no coming back from that," Sammy answered.

"That doesn't make sense. I've been defeated by ink creatures before, probably thousands of times. I've always come back. I'm made of flesh, Sammy. I'm ink-tougher than any of you."

"No, Sammy is right," Alice agreed, "He's not talking about anything supernatural. He means, literally, the hand could drag you under until your lungs fill up and you suffocate. Anything that doesn't have a soul attached to the ink machine ought to sit this one out. Anyhow, I doubt that anything but Bendy's touch could put a dent in that thing."

Henry gave a resigned sigh. "Alright. Just be careful, okay Bendy?"

"Don't worry," Sammy said. "He's vital to us. We'll take good care of him."

"Well, I trust that," Henry answered.

"I know how much it sucks to accept your limits. I can't tell you how many times I've had to back down because of how ink-weak I am. Come on, let's the four of us get some audiotapes of Grant and Lacie so that we can separate the last soul from this hive mind."

"Alright. But at least one of us is keeping an eye on the ink machine at all times in case something goes wrong."

With that, Henry, Alice, Tom, and Boris left. Sammy turned to face his gathered cult. There were many familiar faces in the crowd- including his best friend, Jack, and now Shawn as well. There were also a good deal more searchers than usual- no doubt from Henry whacking around his followers and forcing them to regenerate.

"Everyone. The demon has come to save us," Sammy began. "But. It seems that 'us' is a bigger category than we realized. One of us has had our soul trapped in the hand of the lake. What do we do when one of us is in distress? We save them. I'm sure all of you have lost their physical form at least once by putting yourself between an intruder and our home. Because nothing can hurt us more than we've already been hurt-we come back. Our souls. Our bodies. In enough time, it all returns. Understand that what I ask of you is no different. We will make our way to the docks, find that giant hand, and control it for long enough to let our lord- his touch deadlier than that of any other ink creature in existence- free his or her soul. Thank you for your service. Now, let's move out!"

Off they went. Sammy and the two other strongest lost ones in the village accompanied Bendy on the barge. The rest of the searchers and lost ones melted seamlessly into the river of ink, feeling their souls fade into a single hive mind. The resultant mass of ink pushed the boat forwards, exploring the dark and inky tunnels.

The boat stopped. Moments later, it surged back as two inky hands, one with a glove and one made of the hive mind, surfaced from the water. The hive mind grabbed the hand and forced it against a wall. It flailed like a fish, but the searcher mass stayed strong. Sammy ordered the two lost ones propel the boat forwards. The hive mind's grip was clearly weakening with time- the hand sucking the life out of it. Bendy climbed onto the boat's railing and reached out to touch the hand, but just as he was an inch from it, the hand broke out of its hold and struck the barge. The four were sent flying against the wall. Bendy and Sammy survived it, the latter barely. The other two did not. As they climbed back onto the boat, the hive mind had shaped itself into a net and thrown itself over the hand, which, momentarily at least, held it down.

Sammy picked up his lord and held him close enough to touch the hand. Bendy peeled off his glove and lowered his hand into it. Even as it squirmed in its binds, Bendy could tell that this was the toughest ink creature he'd ever encountered- far tougher than even himself. He began to feel himself liquefy from contact with it, but he continued on, focusing his thoughts on stretching the creature until it was nothing but loose, separated tendrils of ink. It was already damaged from years of swimming in ink- almost as damaged as Boris had been. They had to have held together in a battle of wills and solidity for close to twenty seconds before the ink creature finally got loose and upended the boat.

Bendy emerged. The ink hand rose before him, now looking downright skeletal. three straight black "bones" seemed like the only solid part of it. The rest was melting off of it in tendrils as thick as a human's waist. One more touch. That's all it would take.

The hand surged forwards and grabbed Bendy, submerging him and swimming quickly through the river. Thankfully, Bendy couldn't take or deal any damage through the glove, or one of them would surely be dead. No, the hand must have known what he knew- it was making sure Bendy wouldn't be able to touch it- making sure that he'd melt before it could happen. Bendy struggled to get out of the hand's grasp, but the hand was strong, and Bendy was feeling weak from the damage he'd taken. He reached blindly for the creature's wrist, but couldn't even come close. Just as he was about to accept his fate, he had an idea. he bit down on the giant glove and tore a chunk of it, then dipped his hand into the exposed flesh. The hand barely lasted five seconds before Bendy could feel its grip release.

Bendy floated idly to the surface and just lay there for a while, feeling utterly drained. He lifted an arm to check the damages. What he found should have made him scream- would have made him scream if he weren't nearly too exhausted to care. His arm didn't lift very well- he could see tendrils of ink rise from the surface of the river, along with a glove, but it looked nothing like an arm, and there was no distinction of where his body ended and the river began. He swam to a boat and dragged himself onto it. The remaining lost ones propelled him back to shore.

\---

"You know, this is actually boring," Henry commented as he tossed another audio log into his bag.

"Are you complaining that we aren't risking our lives for once?" Alice teased.

"No, just the opposite. It's amazing to be out here without having to look over my shoulder every five seconds. No ink demon, no malicious searchers, the only thing that can hurt us anymore is the butcher gang."

"Well, when you put it that way..."

Boris popped in, a distressed look on his face, and beckoned the others to ink machine. It was producing a steady stream of ink.

"Thanks for alerting us, but that looks fairly normal," Alice said calmly. "We weren't expecting to defeat the hand without at least a few lost ones losing their forms."

The ink machine's production suddenly tripled. It was spewing ink so quickly that it looked like it might burst from the pressure. "Okay. That's distressing." Alice quickly turned back to face the others and caught sight of a rising mint-green soul. She ran after it and caught it. Her eyes went wide as the realization set in that if she had caught it, Bendy hadn't.

"What is it?" Henry asked.

"There's a chance that everything is alright. There's a chance that Bendy just couldn't catch this," Alice said, trying to keep her voice even, "But we can't risk it!"

The group rushed down to the harbor as quickly as they could. As soon as Henry saw Bendy, barely conscious and looking as much like a puddle as he did a toon, he dropped his axe, ran over and scooped the poor thing up in his arms. Loose ink ran over his sleeves and the front of his shirt. "Oh my God. Bendy, what happened?"

Bendy's eyes fluttered half-way open. "I won, Dad. But it was really strong."

"We need to get him to the ink machine, now!"

Henry was not a particularly fast runner- fast for his age, for certain, but that was it. Alice and the Boris clones usually had to slow down for him. Now, even with his arms full, he was leaving them in the dust. He ran into a piper clone on the way there and, weaponless, push-kicked the creature to the ground and ran over it without missing a beat. Direct contact with the malicious creature made ink cloud his peripheral vision, but he ignored that, ran up to the machine, and slid Bendy inside.

A fisher and a striker appeared behind him. Suddenly, running ahead when he was unarmed didn't seem like such a great idea. He grabbed the fisher by the fishing pole and threw him to the side. Meanwhile, the striker decided to punch him twice in the stomach. Ink spread heavily over his peripheral vision. He punched the spider in its face, but the contact only earned him more ink over his field of view. The fisher struck him in the back of his head, knocking him back into the inky abyss.

When he emerged from the abyss, Alice, Bendy, and a searcher wearing a faded Bendy mask were waiting for him.


	10. Camaraderie

Alice scampered into the ink machine chamber to find a slightly beaten-up fisher and striker and no one else. She drew her sword and slew the duo before they could land a single hit, as any reasonably armed, able-bodied person would have been able to do. God, Henry was stupid! But there was no time to dwell on that. She had to figure out whether Bendy had survived, and examine her options for if he hadn't. There was a large ink splatter on the ground in front of the machine. That could have just been from Henry, or it could have been the both of them. She examined the entry point of the machine-liquid ink was upon it- a good, if not definite, sign.

"Do you think that could be from you?" she asked Boris. Boris shrugged in response. "Alright. just let me sit down a moment. I have to think some things over."

Henry was okay. He'd said himself that he could come back from attacks from ink monsters. But without a demon, they'd have to make a new one or they wouldn't be able to save anyone. That meant sacrificing a soul and an ink creature. Whose body would they use? They could make a new ink creature, which would have a nine in ten chance of coming out malicious, then wrestle it into a glass tube and force a transformation on it, but that would be awfully risky. Otherwise, it would have to be one of them. Not her, obviously- she was too weak to ink. Tom wasn't much better, and Boris was cowardly. The harder question, though, was of who's soul to sacrifice. One of the lost ones? Sammy would never go for that, especially if the idea came from her. She'd have to do it in secret, and who knew-

"Where... is my lord?" came Sammy's voice, cutting into Alice's train of thought.

Alice sprung to her feet. "Sammy! I-".

"Where. Is my lord?!" he yelled. He was only a searcher now- not really dangerous. Alice had already drawn her machete due to blind instinct. Still, as the massive hoard of equally weak, half-formed ink creatures came to surround her, she hardly dared to breathe. Tom stepped between her and the horde, dragging Boris with him.

"Please, just let me explain," she begged. "Henry ran ahead of us. He was unarmed, so the butcher gang killed him. I don't know if he managed to get Bendy into the ink machine first. I'm sorry."

"Really? Because it seems to me that you killed them, angel!" He used the word 'angel' almost as a slur.

"Stop! There's a simple solution here. Soon enough, Henry will come back. Then, he can tell you the truth. Alright? No need for anyone here to get hurt."

The horde backed away a bit. They agreed to wait, but many were still spoiling for a kill. In what was mere minutes, but felt to Alice like hours, Bendy tumbled out of the ink machine. Alice and Sammy were so grateful that they ran over and hugged him. "Bendy, thank goodness!" Alice beamed.

"Huh? What's going on?" he asked.

"Oh, sorry," Alice said, letting the rather overwhelmed imp down. "Henry got defeated. He'll be back soon, but we didn't know if you'd made it!" Alice turned to the horde. "You see, everyone? I'm innocent."

"Alright. You're innocent. I suppose we should get to work then?"

"Right. The last soul we need is Grant Cohen's. When's the last time you managed to separate him out?"

"I have never separated him out, I'm afraid."

"Why not?"

"Most likely he doesn't want to be. That is, if he's even here at all. Tell me, have you ever been to his office?"

"I don't... wait, you mean the one with the writing all over the walls? Yeesh."

"Yeah, Alice, you got your work cut out for you on that one," Bendy said.

"Mind if I tell you a bit of his story?" Sammy asked.

"Go ahead."

"Well, Grant Cohen was the accountant here long ago. And Joey... he disliked most of us. But what he had with Grant was a special hatred. We don't know exactly what happened, but one day, he just broke down. The janitor of this old studio... I can't remember his name, gathered us the day after, telling us that he'd written insane messages all over the walls of his office. He never showed up to work that day, and it made us all a little worried for him. I didn't know him well, but from what I'd heard had been especially somber and tired for weeks before that. His friend, Norman, checked at his house after work, but no one answered the door. Eventually, he was announced missing. We assumed the worst- kidnapping, suicide, murder, something like that. Why does Henry think he's here? Why do you trust that he knows?"

"Well, for one thing, he's been right so far. The other reason is hard to explain."

"I can actually back Alice up on this one. It's one of the things I saw through the cutouts. Grant had been really scared that morning-hands shaking and everything- because he had to tell Joey about something called a bankruptcy. And when Joey heard about that, put his hands on his desk, got up in Grant's face, and he told him he had three options: he could either figure out a way to avoid the bankruptcy, he could get fired and blacklisted from every place in New York, or he could come to a special meeting with him after work. Well, take a guess which he chose and what happened at that meeting." Bendy shook his head. "Not pretty. Screaming-searcher-in-a-cage-above-an-abyss not pretty."

"That's sad, but it still doesn't explain why he's never separated."

"It is not so uncommon, actually," Sammy said, "many of the people here choose nonexistence over existence. Scatter their soul so evenly that they aren't ever aware of themselves. That's why now is the best time for this. I doubt that a dominant soul is present in any of my sheep so soon after their revival. It's just a matter of taking one of them, isolating them, and playing some audio tapes. He will be drawn in, whether he likes it or not."

"Then that's what we'll do."

Sammy sent all but one of his searchers out of the room. Four of them had been petting Boris, so he went with them as well. The trio played the tapes of Grant Cohen, of which there were only two: one of him complaining about Joey's terrible business skills, and the other of him screaming and growling as he was sacrificed and transformed. The searcher showed little reaction to the first. With the second, though, the searcher began to look uncomfortable. That could have just been a reaction to the noise, but regardless, Sammy asked, "Do these tapes mean anything to you?" The searcher nodded. "Good. It's going to be okay, Grant. Look who we have here," Sammy motioned at Bendy. "He will set us free."

"Stop. Please," The searcher begged, "I don't want to be here. I don't want to remember what's happened. I don't even understand how I'm still alive. I slid out from between the bars of that cage and fell to my death. Is... this Hell?"

"This isn't Hell," Alice answered, "Look, it's really hard to explain. But just let us kill you and-"

"What!?" the ink creature whispered in alarm. Its instinct was suddenly to run. Alice out her rope and lassoed the Searcher. She drew him in close. In a panic, he grabbed her wrist, which immediately began to burn. She tore it away immediately to reveal that her left hand had nearly melted off. That was it. She took out her machete, and struck. It cut through the newly-formed searcher like butter. She dropped the machete and grabbed the soul, which she passed along to Bendy.

"Alice, what did you just do? That's not how the Church of Unity treats a lost sheep. I could have explained everything to him."

"Sorry, but I'm a miracle worker, not a therapist. I didn't survive this long by taking chances."

Sammy looked thoughtful a moment. "You know, I could kill you with a single touch, but you're one of the toughest people I've met down here. I need someone to look after my people once I'm gone. Alice, what if I chose you? With my endorsement, and that of our lord, they'd surely accept it."

"Sammy, that's really sudden. But, I was hoping that your church would open up to me at least a little. I'm not like you. I'm not good with giving people hope, or a reason to keep going, or any of that. But I could separate these souls out and send them to heaven. If we can't save them like you're being saved, well, it's what's best for them."

"So you agree?"

"If there's no one else to do it, then yes. I'll do it, Sammy."

"Thank you."

The two shared a firm handshake just as Henry dragged himself out of one of the puddles of ink. Alice helped Henry to his feet and then promptly slapped him across the face. Sammy followed suit.

"That's for running ahead of us without a weapon! Henry, what could've happened if the butcher gang had caught up with you a little sooner?"

"Alright, point taken. I guess I was just in a bit of a panic, is all. The important thing is that everyone made it out okay."

"Yeah. And uh, thanks. Fer savin' my life." 

"Anytime, little guy." He turned back to Alice. "I didn't know that you and Sammy would be getting along. It's nice to see. Anyhow, who's soul is there left to save?"

Alice started giggling. "No one's, Henry. We're done. We just need to revive them now. Let's go to Boris' hideout so I can fix up these souls."

"Oh. Well, okay. Sammy, we're probably going to be playing cards. Do you like cards, or should I just, you know..."

"Actually, I think I'll be wanting his company, if he's alright with that."

"I certainly am."


	11. Revival

"Y'know, I'm not at all bound to use my powers for good. There's more than a few things that I'd love to do to that Bertrum guy."

"For example?"

"I don't know. Give him social anxiety? An inferiority complex, maybe?"

"As if he doesn't already have one! That would explain why he's so touchy about... well, everything. He used to get so hot under the collar when Joey got is name wrong, I'm surprised he didn't burst into flames."

Alice laughed. "Okay, but he doesn't, or I would have seen it. And I'm just joking. The first thing I'm doing once we get to the hideout is to finish up with Susie's soul. She was a bother, but I'm almost done with her. I just have to work out her identity issues..."

Sammy's gaze became wistful. "Hmm... maybe that's something you should leave between her and a therapist. It's awfully personal to her, after all. Unless you need to change it to make her well."

"Well, considering that she literally thinks she's a cartoon character, I will. But you raise a good point. I mostly just want to undo what this place has done to people. What do think it would be unethical to change? Let's say, hypothetically, that I found out that someone had been suffering from depression since before he even worked here, but working here made it worse. It would be fine if I just torched it, right?" She kept her voice light, but that sounded a little forced.

"I... strongly suspect that's not hypothetical," Sammy teased.

"Okay, you caught me." Alice was still smiling. "But really. What would you do?"

"I don't know. Ask Henry. He's actually lived in the real world sometime in the last decade."

"Okay. Henry?"

"Yep. Cut it like a parasite. Grant won't miss it."

"I love how you just assumed it was him," Alice said blithely before returning to her idle chatter with Sammy.

Henry laughed a little. It did him good to see Alice acting so lighthearted for once. It honestly reminded him of how his daughter used to act around cute boys her age, though a swollen searcher in a Bendy mask could hardly be considered cute.

They made it to the safe house. Henry, Bendy, and the two Boris clones began to play cards as Alice got to work. She was still talking to Sammy in the meantime, which was clearly dancing on Tom's last nerve. He let out a low growl when Alice said it was nice to have someone to talk to for once, and when he started delighting her by describing the real world, Boris had to keep Tom from getting up and slugging his competition. Contrary to her plan, Alice worked on Susie's soul last.

"Okay, Sammy. I want you to tell me some things you know about Susie- especially anything that she could define herself by. Alright?"

"Well, she used to do musical theater before becoming a voice actress, which makes sense because she has the voice of an angel. And she's such a delight when she's happy! She gets all bubbly and excitable. She has the most sensitive heart, though, and your heart will break with hers. She makes you want to take care of her. Very sweet and innocent and sunny. She makes you feel as though you matter. She does have an egotistic side to her, but... I do wish we could go back to being together, like we were before of all this. We might have only dated a couple years, but I loved her."

Alice etched the information she could use into the soul, which certainly wasn't all of it, since Sammy had been more interested in providing praise than description. It all came as a surprise to her, but it was probably for the best. She was technically with Tom, after all. "Sammy, I'm going to fix you both up as authentically as I can, alright? If your relationship with her could have worked before, I'll do everything in my power to make you just as compatible now. I promise. And for the record? I'm looking at her on the deepest possible level right now, and this girl seems like a catch."

Finally, it was Sammy's turn to be killed. Henry got up and raised his axe. "Oh, Sammy. I have one last thing to ask of you."

"What is it?"

"I tried to be good about killing people in a way that wouldn't leave them panicking. But, well... with Susie I failed that. So, since you two were close, I thought that I could revive you first and have you comfort her as soon as she's back. Is that alright? I want to make sure she's okay.

"Alright? I'd be sacrificing you to Bendy if if you didn't tell me! Oh, but..."

"What?"

Alice spoke up. "I didn't realize that killing people in a good state was a big deal, and Grant kinda doesn't even know where he is or what's going on, so..."

"No problem. I'll explain it to him," Henry said. "Ready, Sammy?"

"Ready." With that, Henry gave Sammy a solid whack to the jaw to knock him out, and five strikes to the head and chest to kill him. He hadn't even grown his legs back yet and he was still one tough ink creature. 

Sammy's soul took a fair amount of time to heal. Afterwards, the group took a break for some soup and then set off for the inner chamber of the ink machine.

In the inner chamber of the ink machine, the group set to work drawing a pentagram before one of each of the four glass tubes. Bendy instructed them. Henry, being that he had the most artistic experience, drew the most intricate details. When they were sure it was ready, they placed Sammy’s hair in the center of it. Alice released his soul into the glass tube. The group of ink creatures backed up as Bendy took his position before the pentagram and the ritual began.

Bendy summoned a mist of ink into the room, and Henry could hear a familiar pounding in his head. What Bendy had once used to seem menacing was now being used for good. Bendy raised his arms, causing the bundle of hair to levitate. Posters were torn from the walls and floated through the air, and small items rose as well. The hair spun quickly, turned into a blob of ink, and entered the glass tube. The tube flooded with high-pressure black ink. After a few seconds of this flooding, the ink began to drain. A man, coughing up ink but otherwise unharmed, was left behind. The pillar rose. Sammy stared at his thoroughly ink-stained but definitely five-fingered hand a moment.

“Did...” he coughed again. “Did it work?”

“You bet it did,” Bendy said, levitating the ink from Sammy’s clothes, hair, and skin.

“Sammy! Why, you haven’t changed a bit!”

“Yeah, try getting murdered in your early thirties. Really keeps the effects of aging at bay, you old codger.”

Henry laughed. “Says the one still using 30’s slang. You’re going to seem so behind the times it hurts. Now, you go get your music and say goodbye to your cult while we get these four pentagrams drawn up.”

“Alright. And thank you, everyone.”

By the time Sammy returned, they were ready to begin the second ritual. "You might want to back up for this one. It's going to take four times the power," Bendy warned. The group backed away to the the room's entrance. The mist Bendy summoned was thicker than even the one he'd summoned to threaten Henry with- the features of the room aside from the still-spotless pillars were almost invisible. Posters, now soaked in more ink, flew off the walls and began to spiral. The group felt as though the same might happen to them, and Alice clung to Tom to make sure it wouldn't. Bendy himself was floating, as though he were in the center of a storm. The bones rose, spun, and turned to blobs which entered the tubes. Bendy's eyes began to glow as they flooded with ink.

Finally, the spell ended. Bendy landed lightly on his feet and removed the ink from everything in the room- the walls, the the floor, and the four new people- before falling to his knees from the spell's exertion. Sammy ran over to Susie, who was shaking. 

"Susie!"

"Sammy? What's going on? I feel like I've woken up from a nightmare."

"It was no nightmare. But but it's okay, now. Henry and Alice and Bendy? They saved us."

"Hey, you didn't call me 'lord'." Bendy said.

"No. I mean, I can't thank you enough, but I understand that it was a group effort." 

Bendy smiled. He wasn't sure whether to attribute Sammy's change in attitude to Alice's literal magic or her feminine charms, but he was glad that Sammy wasn't worshiping him anymore. Meanwhile, Alice was watching. The two real, in-colour humans looked so fresh and unscarred, and so happy to see each other. With their matching white-blonde hair, feminine features, and slender bodies, they looked almost like twins. It wasn't at all how she'd thought Sammy would look. She'd seen them both on the deepest level and knew that if their relationship could last one year, it could last thirty. _If. _Still, it warmed her heart (and broke it a little bit).__

__Meanwhile, Henry approached Grant, who was looking around frantically. "Hey. You must be pretty disoriented. This is a pretty disorienting situation. You're just going to have to trust me, alright? Soon, we're going to be in New York, in the year 1964."_ _

__"1964? That's, well-"_ _

__"Yeah, you've been trapped in a kind of purgatory for over twenty years. That's why everything looks like a drawing. But the others can explain more to you later. We're about to leave."_ _

__"Well, thank you. That's... wonderful. How?"_ _

__Those three letters hit Henry like a brick. He'd forgotten that without the end tape, he had no idea how to leave. "Give me a couple minutes. Um... Alice? Do you have any ideas about how to get out of here?"_ _

__"Well, we have a dog with a robot arm, a demon who can control ink, a sword fighter, and enough axes to arm everyone in this room. What if we just went to the first floor and knocked the front door down?"_ _

__"We'll do that if we can't think of anything else. I'm pretty sure this place is in some sort of pocket dimension and that wouldn't work."_ _

__"Well, how do you usually get out, then?"_ _

__Henry sighed. "Using the end tape. But it's gone."_ _

__"Oh, you guys use that thing to get out?" Bendy said, smacking his forehead. "I thought that all it did was kill me." Bendy reached behind his back and took out the end tape. "Here you go."_ _

__"Where...?" Henry began._ _

__"It's toon logic, don't question it."_ _

__Henry nodded, deciding not to look a gift horse in the mouth. "Alright. That's perfect. Everyone, to the throne room!" The five revived people gathered around the throne, but the toons stayed put. "Aren't you coming with us, guys? No sense in leaving you behind."_ _

__"Thanks, Henry. But I made a promise to Sammy. I'm staying here to release the souls of his cult. It could take months, so Tom and Boris have agreed to stay and keep me company. But, it's okay. I always figured that I wasn't meant to leave."_ _

__"Alice," Henry began in a firm, gentle voice. "That's bullshit. You don't even know why you were made. Knowing Joey, it was probably for something incredibly stupid that falls miles short of what you're capable of. Take 'meant,' and throw it out of your vocabulary. I'm going to figure out how this dimensional thing works. After you're done here, we'll get you get you out if there's any possibility of it. You're a good person, Alice. You have gifts that could help people. And you deserve better than this."_ _

__Alice blushed. "I don't know what to say. Thank you."_ _

__"No problem. And, goodbye Boris." He gave Boris a hug. "Now come on, Bendy," Henry said, sitting down on the throne. "The journal says that items in my right hand stay with me through time loops, so I'm going to hold onto you. Avert your eyes from the tape. Alright?"_ _

__Bendy nodded and obeyed. Henry gathered Bendy and his journal in his right hand and set the end tape with his left. In a moment, the group vanished._ _


	12. Closure

The group found themselves in a hallway painted blue. "Where are we?" Lacie asked.

"Right outside Joey Drew's apartment," Henry answered.

"Perfect. Now we can bash his teeth in," Lacie returned, cracking her knuckles.

"Yeah," Susie agreed, "I'd love to give him a piece of my mind. I'm not leaving until he apologizes to all of us!"

"Or," Grant said, "we could handle this like adults and sue him for every penny he has."

"Well, how much could that be? We already know his empire fell. How _is_ he doing, Henry?" Bertrum asked.

"Terrible. He's broke, sick, stuck in the past, and looks ten years older than he is. He's miserable."

"Then I say the world gave us all the revenge we could need. Let us be off."

"Yeah. I'll take you guys to a police station to connect you with your living family members so you can get back on your feet. But first, I need to go in there. He has some things I need." Henry stopped before the apartment door and took a deep breath. In the last few days, he’d done a plethora of neigh-impossible things. He’d come to think of himself as brave. But this was the moment of truth. If Joey said those evil words: _“Henry, come visit the old studio. There’s something I need to show you,”_ then he'd be walking into that studio in a trance, just like every time before. It would all have been for naught.

A hand touched his, making him realize that he had been shaking. He looked back to see it was Sammy. “Scared, Henry?”

“Yeah.”

“Why? He must be like a hundred years old by now, right?

Henry smiled nervously. “Yeah.”

“I could come in with you. I want to be the one who handles the dimensional stuff anyways. It's my people, after all. I could even go instead, and ask for your things for you.”

“Thanks,” he said, “And sure, if you want the church to be your project, I'll respect that. But no. It's not about the things, Sammy. Until I face him, I won't know if this is truly over. I won't know if he still has power over me. And yes, it has to be alone.” Henry would never forgive himself if he let Joey hypnotize them both and throw them into the time loop.

Henry collected himself, entered, and marched right through Joey’s apartment. Joey looked up from his book, a look of awe and appreciation on his face. “Henry. You’ve finally done it. You’ve found the optimal ending. Oh, thank you! I would never have been able to save everyone without you.”

Amazingly, Henry could still muster some exhausted awe at how twisted Joey’s mind was. “You know what?” he began in a firm, but even voice, “I’m not even going to address every twisted detail of what you just said. I’m here for two specific things, and then I’m going to leave. Please don’t contact me after that.”

Joey’s face fell.

“First, I want the rights to Bendy’s character.”

“He hasn’t made money since-“

“I’ll tell you why I want it if and when I decide to.”

“Okay,” Joey conceded, and slowly began getting up from his chair.

Henry was still jittery- whether that was from nervousness or anger he couldn’t tell. “I’ll get it!” Henry cut in. He couldn’t have stood staying still any longer. “Where is it? And don’t tell me you didn’t keep it.”

“It’s in my filing cabinet.”

Henry knew the man’s home from having gone through it in his last two loops. He knew where that was. Thankfully, the cabinet was well-organized and he found what was looking for quickly. He took out a pen, crossed Joey’s name out and wrote his own before returning to the living room. “Alright. I don’t know what needs to be changed here, so you’re doing it for me,” he ordered, his confidence finally building up. Joey wordlessly obeyed.

As Henry watched, the realization settled in that this was actually happening. Joey wasn’t going to say those words. His confidence bloomed into boldness. Henry took a seat across from Joey, looking on as a king might look upon a subject. “After you’re done that, you’re going to write a letter of apology to Bendy. You messed him up pretty badly by isolating him in the ink machine for years. That would be considered torture if you did it to a human being. On top of that, you convinced him that everyone would hate him until he drastically changed his appearance. That is not okay.”

“Well, was I wrong? What should I have done with him? He was an abomination by anyone’s standards. You can’t just blame me because he realized that.”

“I don’t know,” Henry admitted. His old friend did have a point. “Just write the letter, Joey.”

A few minutes later, Joey handed the two papers to Henry. Henry gave the letter a quick read over to make sure it was appropriate, then, satisfied with its contents, put the papers away. He looked on at Joey for a moment. If he wanted to, he could have dressed him down, shoved his mistakes in his face until he cried. But for a single moment, all Henry saw was a frail, lonely old man. “Joey,” Henry said, sure to keep his voice businesslike. “You have people to visit you, right?”

“Yes. My sister and her granddaughter come once a week.”

“Good. Now, listen: a lot of the people I released are angry. If I were you, I’d get the best lawyer and the best home security system money can buy.” Henry got up to leave, taking the letter and the adoption papers with him. A small part of him felt that Joey was following, and sure enough, he felt the old man touch his hand to get his attention. _“Don’t touch me!”_ Henry snapped, instantly regretting the hint of vulnerability he’d shown. He stopped, pulled his hand away, and curled it into a fist.

“I just wanted to ask one last thing of you.”

“What?” Henry growled.

Joey paused, taken aback by Henry's anger.

 _“What?"_ Henry roared.

“I could have put a SWAT team in a time loop, you know. I did it to you because you matter. Henry, what you think means the world to me. And now, you know everything about about my mistakes. Now that I- well, we, but I made it happen- now that we’ve saved everyone who could be saved, do you forgive me?”

All Henry could think was that Joey was _pathetic_. “You need to forgive yourself,” he sighed, not bothering to look back at his old friend. “No one else will.” Joey could hear the tiredness and disappointment in that gentle voice. Henry was sure of that. He left, closed the door behind him, and leaned wearily against it, feeling almost too exhausted to stand.

Bendy hugged Henry’s leg, which got his attention. “You looked like you needed it,” Bendy explained.

Henry smiled and stroked Bendy’s head. “Thanks, bud.”

“Can I see Joey now?”

Henry shook his head.

“Why not? He’d like me now. Right?”

“Well, probably. But trust me, Bendy, that man isn’t worth it. I was his friend and business partner for years, and the only good thing I ever got out of it...” Henry fumbled the paper in his hands and pulled out the adoption papers. “Was this.”

Bendy was awestruck. “Y-you mean...?”

Henry kneeled down to meet Bendy’s eyes. “Yeah. I’ve warmed up to you, bud. I’m going to take you home and treat you like my own child.”

Bendy wiped away a tear of joy. “Thank you. Thank you so much.”

“Ha, no problem. Now, let’s get these people on their way home, and go home ourselves. Linda’s waiting for me. I’ll explain everything, and if I know anything about her, she’ll be totally open to you living with us.”

The duo walked home hand in hand. Henry thought about the five people they’d released. Each of them had wanted something different from Joey. Some different form of closure. As for Henry, all he wanted was to never see him again.

As for Bendy, well, Henry knew what Bendy wanted, but he was hoping that he didn’t need it. That enough affection from people who weren’t twisted beyond belief would mend the hole that Joey Drew had left in his heart.

That evening, Henry put the apology letter in his bedside drawer. He never touched it again.


End file.
